


Seeds of Doubt

by tatersalad5001



Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: (so this takes place in battle network 3), Canonical Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22081966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: It felt like a week ago that Mamoru had been wheeled off to start his surgery. That had been stressful enough. You know, before the WWW attacked the hospital, and Mamoru almost didn’t make it through the surgery because the room he was in lost power. Deleting PlantMan and saving Mamoru took too long, far longer than MegaMan would’ve liked, but they did it.Now, Lan and MegaMan were waiting for him to wake up.Roll heard about what had happened at the hospital. Exact details weren’t out to the public yet, but there was enough information that she and Mayl seemed really worried. They wanted to make sure MegaMan and Lan were both okay.
Relationships: Hikari Netto | Lan Hikari & Rockman.EXE | MegaMan.EXE, Rockman.EXE | MegaMan.EXE & Roll.EXE
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Seeds of Doubt

**Author's Note:**

> howdy, yall. here we are back at it again with the megaman. this particular one takes place in battle network 3 pretty soon after mamoru's surgery. i'm only just playing battle network 3 (blue version) myself, and i only just beat plantman, andi haven't played any future games in the series, so....no spoilers, please. thanks.
> 
> just been thinking about that blue boy and how he might feel about some things. you know how it is.
> 
> so. i've been pretty sick the past week or so. i am better now than i was (i have a voice now), but the entire time i was working on this, i was sick. and i worked on this in really small parts over time, but. sorry if this feels a bit like...not so coherent. i just...really wanted to write...and really wanted to write this...you know how it is. sorry about that.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy this. thanks for reading!!

Mamoru was asleep. Right now, Mamoru was still alive.

That’s what MegaMan was doing his best to focus on right now. That’s what mattered.

It had been a long day. It felt like a week ago that Mamoru had been wheeled off to start his surgery. That had been stressful enough. You know, before the WWW attacked the hospital, and Mamoru almost didn’t make it through the surgery because the room he was in lost power. Deleting PlantMan and saving Mamoru took too long, far longer than MegaMan would’ve liked, but they did it. Mamoru made it through the surgery.

He made it through. In fact, the surgery had finished a couple of hours ago. Now, Lan and MegaMan were waiting for him to wake up.

They were taking it in shifts. They were both exhausted from all the stress and running around the day had required from them. Better to alternate between resting and keeping an eye on Mamoru. At least, that was Lan’s reasoning. When MegaMan tried to point out he didn’t need a break, Lan wouldn’t hear it. In fact, Lan insisted on taking the first shift watching Mamoru.

MegaMan backed down by that point. Lan hadn’t said a word about it, but he knew Lan was still really worried. After all, Mamoru wasn’t the only person who nearly lost their life that day. MegaMan knew Lan had to still be upset and stressed from that situation, especially combined with everything else; he made a mental note to apologize to Lan once they left the hospital. Now would’ve been a bad time.

That still left MegaMan with a diffcult question: how does a Navi rest? 

By then, all his HP had been recovered. His PET was currently charging up so it wouldn’t run out of battery power. The only other thing MegaMan could think to do was just, take a deep breath and try to relax a little, but that wasn’t making much of a difference.

It was only then that he realized he had completely missed a new email notification. The email was sent about am hour ago. He hadn’t noticed it for an entire hour. MegaMan opened the email and scanned its contents before telling Lan about it. An hour had already gone by, what difference would a few seconds take?

The email was from Roll. 

She’d heard about what had happened at the hospital. Exact details weren’t out to the public yet, but there was enough information that she and Mayl seemed really worried. They wanted to make sure MegaMan and Lan were both okay.

Mamoru’s hospital room had a port he could use to jack into the net. He still wasn’t awake to use it himself yet. Lan jacked MegaMan in.

Roll insisted on coming to Beach Street to meet MegaMan, rather than the other way around. MegaMan would’ve preferred to head back to ACDC, but he didn’t have to wait long before Roll met him in the nearest Square.

”MegaMan!! Are you okay?” As MegaMan turned to face her, Roll grabbed his hands and looked him in the eye, as if she were trying to assess her condition herself.

”I’m fine. Don’t worry.” MegaMan smiled at her. “Everything at the hospital is okay now. Lan and I took care of it, everyone’s safe now. Lan is, too. He’s okay, he’s just...keeping an eye on Mamoru right now.”

”That’s right, your friend was having that surgery today. How is he?”

”He got through the surgery okay. We’re just waiting for him to wake up. He was still in surgery when that WWW member attacked the hospital, though... He almost didn’t make it. Getting power back to the operating room was...tough.”

”I’m glad you’re all okay.” Roll squeezed MegaMan’s hands almost a little too tight before letting go. “But you need to be careful. You promised GutsMan you’d see him in the next N1, you know.”

”Yeah, I know.” MegaMan looked away from her. “And I do intend to meet him there, even if I’ve made some risky decisions. You’re not the only one worried about me; Lan insisted I ‘rest’ while he keeps an eye on Mamoru. Between you and him, I don’t think I’ll have a choice. I’ll have to be careful.”

”As you should be. He has every right to worry about you. You’ve been just as worried about him when he’s been in danger.” Roll sighed. “‘Risky’ doesn’t even begin to cover it with you two...”

”I know. We do get in a lot of trouble, but this isn’t something we could just let happen. The WWW attacked weak and sick people this time, and that’s unforgivable. And...Mamoru has the same heart condition I had, when I was human. When I was Hub. I had no choice but to make sure the surgery was a success.”

”’No choice’?”

”Mamoru didn’t want the surgery at first. Lan and I were the ones who convinced him to change his mind. I was caught up in my own experiences. This surgery wasn’t around for me, and I didn’t want Mamoru to go through what I did. If there was any chance he could get better, I thought he should try. But he’s been through so many other surgeries already, and none of those helped. I didn’t try to see it from his point of view, how rational it was for him to lose faith in surgery. What if this one doesn’t help either? What if he gets worse, or...or...!”

MegaMan looked back towards Roll again, feeling ripped apart inside. “He could’ve died in surgery, Roll! Even if that WWW member hadn’t showed up there’s always some chance, but the operating room lost power. He came close to losing his life because of me. If I wasn’t so insistent about changing his mind—“

If he were human, it would probably feel like a pain in his chest, like humans sometimes feel when they’re really upset. To MegaMan, it was just...he was upset.

”If the human Hub Hikari were here, would he have done the same thing? Would I have tried to convince Mamoru to go through the surgery if I survived?” he finally asked.

Roll stared at him.

”He isn’t here. He’s not here for us to ask him, so honestly, I’m not sure if his opinion would matter. It doesn’t to me.”

MegaMan didn’t know how to respond to that.

”He’s not here to ask, but _you_ are. You’re him, as much as you can be, and your opinion is the one that matters. Maybe this is selfish of me, but...” Roll grabbed one of his shoulders. “You’re my friend, Mega. I can’t imagine a life without you here in it.”

He put a hand over hers. “I don’t want that to change either, but...”

”If you were to ask me, though...” Roll frowned. “Being human is all about going through change and taking risks. That’s what it seems like to me, anyway. Kids like him shouldn’t sit in the hospital all day. That’s not really living, not the way he should be. Not the way he deserves to. He needed someone to remind him to strive for a better future than feeling trapped in the present, because that’s what humans do. I often don’t think about anything besides the present, but humans often have their futures in mind.”

She smiled. “Besides, Mega, even if I’m selfish, you’re selfless. You weren’t wrapped up in your experiences. You were thinking about what was best for Mamoru. You wanted him to get better. The only thing you’d have ever been at fault for is caring about a friend.”

MegaMan thought that over.

”Maybe you’re right.”

MegaMan couldn’t really imagine himself not advocating for Mamoru to take the surgery. Not just because Mamoru had the same heart condition he’d had, either; if Mamoru’d had a problem with his lungs or his brain or anything else, MegaMan couldn’t imagine not wanting him to get better. He wanted his friend to be happy and healthy.

Roll wasn’t selfish for wanting her friend by her side, so how could he be?

She huffed at him. “Of course I’m right.”

”Yeah.” He laughed. “Thank you, Roll.”


End file.
